.Authorities Fear Guns Shipped to Iraq Went to Insurgents
BAGHDAD (KNX) -- Fears have surfaced that as many as 200,000 AK-47s shipped by the U.S. to Iraqi security forces may have ended up in the hands of terrorists.
The Northern Ireland newspaper The Daily Mirror reports the 99-ton cache of AK47s was supposed to have been secretly flown out from a U.S. base in Bosnia. But the four planeloads of arms have since vanished.
Orders for the deal originated with the U.S. Department of Defense. But the work was contracted out via a complex web of private arms traders.
And the Moldovan airline used to transport the shipment was criticized by the United Nations in 2003 for smuggling arms to Liberia, a fact uncovered by human rights group Amnesty International.
Amnesty chief spokesman Mike Blakemore said: "It's unbelievable that no one can account for 200,000 assault rifles. If these weapons have gone missing it's a terrifying prospect." American defense chiefs hired an American firm to take the guns from the 90s Bosnian war, to Iraq. However, flights, which supposedly took off between July 2004 and July 2005 were not recorded by air traffic controllers in Baghdad.
A spokesman for the coalition forces confirmed they had not received "any weapons from Bosnia" and added they were "not aware of any purchases for Iraq from Bosnia". NATO and U.S. officials have already voiced fears that Bosnian arms - sold by US, British and Swiss firms - are being passed to insurgents.
A NATO spokesman said: "There's no tracking mechanism to ensure they don't fall into the wrong hands. There are concerns that some may have been siphoned off."
Two other companies in the complicated sale claim to have papers proving the guns were delivered in Iraq but refuse to show them.
KNX1070
The Northern Ireland newspaper The Daily Mirror reports the 99-ton cache of AK47s was supposed to have been secretly flown out from a U.S. base in Bosnia. But the four planeloads of arms have since vanished.
Orders for the deal originated with the U.S. Department of Defense. But the work was contracted out via a complex web of private arms traders.
And the Moldovan airline used to transport the shipment was criticized by the United Nations in 2003 for smuggling arms to Liberia, a fact uncovered by human rights group Amnesty International.
Amnesty chief spokesman Mike Blakemore said: "It's unbelievable that no one can account for 200,000 assault rifles. If these weapons have gone missing it's a terrifying prospect." American defense chiefs hired an American firm to take the guns from the 90s Bosnian war, to Iraq. However, flights, which supposedly took off between July 2004 and July 2005 were not recorded by air traffic controllers in Baghdad.
A spokesman for the coalition forces confirmed they had not received "any weapons from Bosnia" and added they were "not aware of any purchases for Iraq from Bosnia". NATO and U.S. officials have already voiced fears that Bosnian arms - sold by US, British and Swiss firms - are being passed to insurgents.
A NATO spokesman said: "There's no tracking mechanism to ensure they don't fall into the wrong hands. There are concerns that some may have been siphoned off."
Two other companies in the complicated sale claim to have papers proving the guns were delivered in Iraq but refuse to show them.
KNX1070
posted by madtom at 6:31 PM
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